This invention relates generally to the field of medical data gathering devices which permit telephone transmission of clinical data or parameters from the patient's location to a hospital or physicians office. Information so transmitted is not necessarily definitively diagnostic, but is intended to provide remote patient observation to indicate if and when a patient should be recalled for further examination.
More particularly, the invention relates to the management and post operative monitoring of patients who have undergone a corrective surgical procedure for peripheral arterial occlusive disease. A commonly employed surgical procedure is the insertion of an arterial graft or by-pass or, where appropriate, a balloon catheter may be employed to expand a stenotic i.e. narrowed region in an arterial wall. While initially effective in a great majority of patients, such interventional procedures do carry with them a definite failure rate. Arterial grafts can and do fail, and re-stenosis or occlusion occurs in a percentage of patients, with potentially grave consequences. As is often the case, patient safety and surgical long term outcome are greatly enhanced by early detection of the tendency of the graft or by-pass to fail. Patients are routinely re-evaluated shortly after the completion of the procedure. However, it is quite impractical, and far too expensive to provide a high frequency of patient supervision by office or hospital visits subsequent thereto. There thus arises a need for monitoring of the condition of the patient at frequent e.g. daily intervals without the necessity of the patient leaving his home.